


Dire Wolf

by littlewonder



Series: Otherfuckers [1]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Battle of Wolf 359 (Star Trek), Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-21 00:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17632760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlewonder/pseuds/littlewonder
Summary: Delia Hardeck was at Wolf 359 when her ship was attacked. In an attempts to save all her research, she nearly died. But at the last moment, she was saved.





	Dire Wolf

Alarms blared loud in her ears as she ran down the halls towards her lab.

Crashes of firepower belted the ship. The ground shook and swayed, a constant reminder to Delia that she was simply floating in space. Soon, perhaps, falling in space.

Moving against the crowd fleeing this section of the ship, she felt she must be insane. But she had something to protect, with her life if necessary.

Running into the abandoned lab, she headed for her computer. She compressed all her data into a file and transmitted it to Starfleet Headquarters. Then she started to gather all her samples: skulls, tibias, fibias, spines, rare skin impressions, fossilised leaves, all into a case. She couldn’t let it all burn.

And then he came, a crewman in command reds, stopping her, grabbing her by the arms. “We have to go!” he said. “This section is about to explode!"

“Not yet, I still have―”

“You won’t save anything if you don’t leave now!"

"Fuck!"

Gathering a few last things as she rushed out the door, she packed them away and locked the case. He led her into the last turbolift and the doors closed, just seconds before a loud blast thudded against them.

"Fuck…” she whispered. She turned to him. “You saved my life."

“You’re welcome," he said, smiling.

In a way, she had been preparing her whole career for a moment like this. She had become so absorbed, so obsessed with her own research, that it was bound to grow this far. This work, she realised, had become even more valuable than her own life, as desperately as she clung onto that.

The lights went out. The lift stopped.

“What now?" he complained. Moving through the crowd to the control panel, he pressed buttons, talked into it, all to no avail.

“Damn,” he said, "communications are down. And the back-up controls aren’t working."

“What about the doors?"

“Stuck. We’ll have to go through the roof."

With a crowd filling out the turbolift, it took awhile for the whole party to get out.

When they did, they parted off into groups. Delia followed the commander out, up the shaft, and into a Jeffries tube.

Each group took a different Tube. Delia’s group went into one a level up.

“We don’t have much time,” he said. “We have to get to the transport shuttles before they all leave us here."

Delia didn’t need telling twice. Neither did the other two people in their party. They followed him without a second word.

No one in their group was an engineer, however, so they crawled from one conduit to another, looking for a way out.

Finally, they found an exit grate. The four of them climbed out and found themselves in Stellar Cartography.

“Now what?"

“Assuming we’re not safe to take the lifts, we had better get back in the Jeffries tube and head up until we hit the shuttle bay."

"Great."

So with a sigh, Delia followed him into the confined space and began climbing. 

They climbed through the rumbling of the ship being bombarded, holding on for dear life.

And then it stopped.

“Faster,” he called. “Or we won’t make it!"

He practically flew up the ladder. Delia sped up behind him. Once they reached the right level, he removed the grate, and helped Delia and their crewmates up out of the Jeffries tube.

Then they ran.

The four of them just managed to make it to one of the last shuttles before it flew from the ship.

Delia watched the ship grow smaller in the distance, falling from space. Then the Borg fired at it for the last time and it exploded.

“That could’ve been us."

“But it wasn’t,” he said.

“It nearly was."

She continued to stare. Her own humanity stretched out before her. She mourned for the scientific treasures she wasn’t able to save. But worse, she mourned for the life that was almost lost in an effort to save them.

Next time, she vowed, she would be more prepared.

It was two days before they were picked up by Starfleet. One of their Galaxy-class starships were sent to the location to round up the victims of Wolf 359.

Delia Hardeck, among those victims, walked out of the sparse shuttle and onto the new ship with a mixed sense of dread and relief. Although the change of scenery was a relief, it was also a reminder of where she had come from and how quickly things could change. How much they _had_ changed.

The experience had taught her things about herself that she hadn’t fully comprehended before. Like how far she was willing to go in the face of danger, or how bravely she could face it. She had only learned that in the heat of the moment.

And on that journey out, surrounded by all those people, there had been an odd camaraderie among the crew. Delia had never felt particularly close to anyone, not even her friends, because no one had ever really tried with her before. Or they had, but it wasn’t sincere.

But in that push for survival, those walls had broken down, and she had felt a part of something, like she never had before. She had felt that people cared about her. And although she knew it wouldn’t last past that moment, she had felt connected.

Perhaps she would remain in contact with those people. More likely, that connection would fizzle out and die. But either way, she would take the lessons of her escape from death forward into the future.

She would remember that while she did not trust other people so easily, it might be okay to rely on others every now and then. Maybe they truly cared more than they let on.

After all, we are all only human. Maybe next time, she didn’t have to wait for the most dire circumstances to reach out.


End file.
